Tech Talk for the Non Geek

Ever wonder why you receive so much “spam” (e-mail advertisements you do not want)?  The cleaver advertisers use a lot of sneaky ways to get your e-mail address!  There are several ways to minimize the amount of junk e-mail you get, even though no one has figured out how to stop it all together.
Never post your e-mail anywhere on the Internet.  Spammers often go to places on the web such as message boards and other public
forums and collect the e-mail addresses there.  Also, every time you sign up for a “joke a day” or other newsletter there is a good chance that your e-mail address will be sold to these advertisers.  To save you from having to delete these constantly, sign up for a second e-mail account.  There are several free ones such as hotmail.com and yahoo.com.  Use this as your address anytime you are not corresponding with your friends and family.  Then every now and then check these accounts when you have the time to weed through the junk.Use these to protect others as well as yourself:
Always use the bcc: field when sending to multiple recipients.  The bcc stands for “Blind Carbon Copy” and everyone who receives the
e-mail will not be able to see the other addresses you sent to.  This will also help save your buddies if somebody forwards the e-mail to somebody else.
Remove all the header information before you forward.  There are several cute stories, urban legends, prayers, poems and so forth that people want to share with everybody they know.  If you want to forward these on to your friends be sure to delete all the information at the top that contains everybody else’s e-mail address.  Unfortunately these are usually sent out by spammers in hopes that they will eventually get back to them with a list of new people they can flood with e-mails.  This is why most of them will tell you forward to at least 10 people or your wish wont come true, you’ll have bad luck, or you don’t love God.  In actuality, you are increasing the chances that you and your friends will receive unwanted e-mail.  If the e-mail ask you to forward your e-mails so “we can see how many people see this” use your second e-mail or simply use just your name.As a side note… I never forward these on and no bad things have happened to me, I have not been cursed, and I Do love God.

Most e-mail programs have ways to set up filters or rules to automaticly delete offensive and unwanted e-mails.  Learn how to use these, or give us a call and we can come set them up for you to save you time and
frustration.  But remember, no one  has perfected a way to eliminate ALL spam.

Filed under: Email